CHILDHOOD OBESITY: What Can Be Done?

Childhood Obesity is the highest in the UK and Wales is also fifth highest globally. This is a real concern to say the least. The Welsh Government [WG] report that 35% of children aged 16 and below are classed as overweight or obese, this is also stated as a growing statistic, this has not changed since 2007. We can all deliberate the causes of the rises in childhood obesity such as the growing advances in technology, poor food choices, lack of physical activity and participation in sport, poor parenting choices and discipline and so on. However, we should be more concerned about how we can combat the increases of childhood obesity. The WG attempt to apply certain measures to reduce the risk of ‘becoming obese’; this is made through many ‘optional’ programs that the tax payers supplement. The National Health Service [NHS] funds the treatment of childhood obesity which costs the NHS a staggering £73m a year just for treatment, granted this is less than 1% of the £6bn budget supplied to the NHS by the WG, however we can add this to the cost of programs such as Change 4 Life, MEND and 5x60 which are all ‘optional’ preventive measures created by the WG. Needless to say that not only does obesity within children create social issues through bullying, lack of self-confidence, depression and underachievement in school, childhood obesity is economically hampering the nation with no real improvements in statistics. So what can be done? My measures may seem complicated and difficult to structure but are based on a preventative approach. The approach I would provide will not only prevent childhood obesity, but will also raise the health of the nation, improve social interaction, improve academic achievement and also raise the level of sport in Wales. In Wales there are 1656 maintained schools in, this includes nursery, primary, middle, secondary and special schools. It is the WG responsibility to ensure that these maintained schools are given the best opportunities in all departments and lowing childhood obesity should be as important as receiving a good education in my opinion. This is the approach that I suggest. WG should create a scheme were physical activity is mandatory at each school, preferably in the mornings before education begins, this should even be made part of the curriculum. This mandatory physical activity program should not be sport based, but to be cardiovascular based. Granted that this approach is starting to sound slightly military, but let’s be honest, the military approach is notorious for improving discipline. Many studies exist based on how cardiovascular fitness can improve education at schools; this would be a major bonus for Wales as a nation. Ok ... so trying to get this program up and running would be difficult and something in the national curriculum would have to be sacrificed, but the relevance of it is crucial for Wales as a nation. Statistically childhood obesity leads into adulthood and the WG identify that if a parent is obese it is most likely their children will be also. The WG promotes healthy living and the need to get 60 minutes of activity a day in the Climbing Higher document. The strategy to achieve this with children in schools was through the introduction of the 5x60 program which is an ‘optional’ extra-curricular program, not all children participate in this, and it is normally the ‘sporting’ child who participates. Initiatives are in place and the WG should be applauded for doing so, but with the high increased rates of childhood obesity which is continually growing and the high importance of physical activity portrayed by the WG, it is about time the WG take childhood obesity more seriously. To surmise this new initiative, it would need two employees at each school [not all schools would need two], a small budget to support the job roles. Every child would have to take part in a mandatory cardiovascular based program every day for 30 minutes and this would be made part of the national curriculum. How would the initiative be measured? Well there would be a suitable fitness test that would show the level of fitness of a child; this could be repeated every term. Different tests would have to exist for level of schooling, therefore primary and secondary schools would have different tests and their grading would be different. Costs? Each school would employ two physical activity officers [PAO], one on a salary of £25,000 per annum and the other on £15,000 per annum, also giving a £5,000 budget to support the remit. This is a total of £45,000 for each school, creating a grand total of £74,520,000. This figure obviously seems a lot, but remember, this figure is less than 1% of the WG budget to the NHS. Secondary schools currently receive 120 minutes of mandatory Physical Education [PE], this is not always reached, and this allowance is just not enough. PE would still exist, but would be more theoretically based educating children in healthy eating and nutrition. Both the PE staff and the PAO would work together to create an extra-curricular sports program for the traditional team sports or individual sports. My suggestions you may think are very drastic and very unsuitable for children, but how else is this nation going to improve our childhood obesity epidemic without making drastic changes.